The Piazza

"Crom, count the dead." Discuss the Conan campaign setting (based on the Hyborian Age Conan the Barbarian, created by Robert E. Howard) as it relates to pen & paper RPGs, here.
The Book-House: Find Conan products.

I have it (I am credited as a proof reader for the book as well.) I have read it and run two sessions...and I can't say I am a fan, honestly. Characters tend to be very complex, especially due to the large number of talents (aka feats) they get (they are strongly front-loaded in terms of abilities.) Also, the mechanics are quite fiddly, due to the use of pools of tokens required to play (one for the GM, one for each player.) All in all, I much prefer the Mongoose d20 version; in fact, when you look at it, despite it being somewhat complex, it's still easier to run and play.
Note the next game in the series (note it's 2d20, not 2d10) based on John Carter will have a much simpler game system. Why on Earth all Conan games of the last 15 years are so complex is something that baffles me

rabindranath72 wrote:All in all, I much prefer the Mongoose d20 version; in fact, when you look at it, despite it being somewhat complex, it's still easier to run and play.

I'm more likely to go with the Mongoose version of Conan, so that I can have compatability with other Dungeons & Dragons material *cough* Conanspace *cough*. But is Adventure in An Age Undreamed Of any good as a sourcebook of Conan material? Or would the Mongoose book be just as good (if not better) than the Modiphius book?

rabindranath72 wrote:All in all, I much prefer the Mongoose d20 version; in fact, when you look at it, despite it being somewhat complex, it's still easier to run and play.

I'm more likely to go with the Mongoose version of Conan, so that I can have compatability with other Dungeons & Dragons material *cough* Conanspace *cough*. But is Adventure in An Age Undreamed Of any good as a sourcebook of Conan material? Or would the Mongoose book be just as good (if not better) than the Modiphius book?

The new book is *supposed* to be pure Howard, however they had to necessarily extrapolate from the available material to make a reasonable gaming book. If you are only interested in setting material and have the d20 book, I'd say don't bother.

Disclaimer: I love the 2d20 mechanics, since I am already used to rules-heavy games like Pathfinder. Plus, encounters in 2d20 Games (Conan, Mutant Chronicles, Star Trek Adventures and Corvus Belli's Infinity) are not more complex than 5th level wizard battles in Pathfinder. And 2d20 LITE is even simpler (this one powers John Carter of Mars).

But unlike many other game systems, those Doom Pools that some players hate, are actually balanced against the cool bonuses that allow Players to add extra dice to guarantee successful dice results. If a hero character has some critical task he desperately wants to succeed, he can pay the GM Hero tokens to get a critical success (in 2d20 that is a dice result of 1 since 2d20 is a roll-under system). Or just pay the GM one to three Doom Token to get one to three additional d20 dice to roll and pick the best results from that total pool of dice. Maximum is 5d20 dice. Standard is 2d20 (hence, the name of the system).

Of course, the down side to "bribing" the GM with Doom tokens to improve your immediate dice results, is that the GM can use those newly gained Doom tokens to power up bad things to hinder your hero later. But do not sweat the fear, for you can still offer even more Doom tokens to the GM to get more dice later too.

Within the game lore, the pool of tokens is akin to offering prayers to gods and other minor deities who may grant you temporary boons only to come collecting debts at some point in the future.

With a good team of Players and GM, the dice rolls and tokens enhance the game play, akin to the "Force" mechanic in Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars Light Side and Dark Side tokens. After all, Jay Little designed both FFG Star Wars and this new Conan 2d20 mechanic.

And you might want to pop links to your RPG websites into your forum signature, as it will make it easier for anyone who talks to you to find them.

It's interesting that the "bribing the GM" thing is done in some sort of in-character context. I think that RPGs can sometimes get a bit number-crunchy sometimes (and just end up as people doing maths) so it's fun that someone has put that sort of thought into a game mechanic.

negromaestro wrote:Disclaimer: I love the 2d20 mechanics, since I am already used to rules-heavy games like Pathfinder. Plus, encounters in 2d20 Games (Conan, Mutant Chronicles, Star Trek Adventures and Corvus Belli's Infinity) are not more complex than 5th level wizard battles in Pathfinder. And 2d20 LITE is even simpler (this one powers John Carter of Mars).

Do you think you could explain the basics of the mechanics?

But unlike many other game systems, those Doom Pools that some players hate, are actually balanced against the cool bonuses that allow Players to add extra dice to guarantee successful dice results. If a hero character has some critical task he desperately wants to succeed, he can pay the GM Hero tokens to get a critical success (in 2d20 that is a dice result of 1 since 2d20 is a roll-under system). Or just pay the GM one to three Doom Token to get one to three additional d20 dice to roll and pick the best results from that total pool of dice. Maximum is 5d20 dice. Standard is 2d20 (hence, the name of the system).

What are Doom Pools? The collection of tokens or something else?

Of course, the down side to "bribing" the GM with Doom tokens to improve your immediate dice results, is that the GM can use those newly gained Doom tokens to power up bad things to hinder your hero later. But do not sweat the fear, for you can still offer even more Doom tokens to the GM to get more dice later too.

Okay, I actually like this type of mechanic How does the player obtain Doom tokens?

I have it (I am credited as a proof reader for the book as well.) I have read it and run two sessions...and I can't say I am a fan, honestly. Characters tend to be very complex, especially due to the large number of talents (aka feats) they get (they are strongly front-loaded in terms of abilities.) Also, the mechanics are quite fiddly, due to the use of pools of tokens required to play (one for the GM, one for each player.) All in all, I much prefer the Mongoose d20 version; in fact, when you look at it, despite it being somewhat complex, it's still easier to run and play.
Note the next game in the series (note it's 2d20, not 2d10) based on John Carter will have a much simpler game system. Why on Earth all Conan games of the last 15 years are so complex is something that baffles me

I backed it, and eagerly anticipated it's arrival and... I haven't played it. I was stoked to get it, but then... it's just too convoluted and fiddly, like Rabindranath72 said. I was looking forward to the 2d20 system being that they said it was more streamlined, but between the unnecessary amount of skills and feats... sorry, talents, for a sword and sorcery game, there are too many in game currencies for me. As a GM, I don't mind in game currencies that give the players an edge. I've been using things like that since before 3e D&D came out. What I don't like is how it interferes with the GMing. I don't need, nor do I want, a special mechanic to do stuff for me. I know how to run a game and encounter.

I haven't run Conan, but I have run Star Trek Adventures, and even there, it's too much interference for no real reward. I wanted to be a fan of the system, and more so I wanted that purely Howard Conan game. But I think 2d20 just isn't for me, and Conan, Star Trek and John Carter (when it ships) will ultimately just sit on my shelf

Of course, the down side to "bribing" the GM with Doom tokens to improve your immediate dice results, is that the GM can use those newly gained Doom tokens to power up bad things to hinder your hero later. But do not sweat the fear, for you can still offer even more Doom tokens to the GM to get more dice later too.

As a GM, I don't need any mechanical help to make things more interesting or more difficult for the players. I feel like a system shouldn't expect that the GM doesn't know how and when to properly do her job, and so makes built in contingencies.

I have been debating about buying into the 2d20 system. I played the INFINITY wargames for years but when I looked at the RPG rulebook at the local store I backed down. John Carter was another game I wanted to get. From what I'm reading in this thread its clear 2d20 is not for me. I abandoned DD3.5 and never got into Pathfinder. Even DD5E seems to complicated for me at times (higher levels). Very glad I went with Coriolis The Third Horizon for my science-fiction needs. Its published by Modiphius but its not a 2d20 game.

At it's core, the 2d20 mechanics are pretty simple. It's all the add-ons and unnecessary talents and overly specific skills and multiple in game currencies that make it unfun. And, like, I no longer like buying games that I have to totally revamp with house rules to make playable. So eh...